Wake up Sunshine
by Shirogane
Summary: Sometime being dead didn't mean one's life was over. Seifer Strife Almasy may have been a Soldier 1st but 'babysitting' greenlings made him want to strangle them-
1. Chapter 1

Wake up sunshine

AU FFVIII crossover FFVII

Note: Something started as a pass time...don't even know how many chapters there will be but I will do my best!

Summary: Sometime...being dead do not mean one's life was over. Especially for old mercenary who got thrown right back into a time in a life that was long pass- Seifer Strife Almasy may have been a Soldier 1st Class but 'babysitting' bumbling Garden Cadets made him want to strangle someone-

Declaimer: Do not own Final Fantasy series, merely written for fun.

--

Green eyes stared at him from the mirror. The man- no, the boy who was looking back at him had a healthy bronze skin, sharp slanted eyes that seem too old set in his youthful face. His face seem almost otherworldly without the assortment of scars that had decorate the left side of his face after one of Hojo's idiotic assistant pour acidic mako over it years ago. But the difference that truly unsettle him had been the lack of mako glow in his eyes.

When was the last time he saw his own reflection without the eerie mako glow looking back at him? And how often had he taken aback when he came across some ordinary civilian and felt weird when their eyes don't glow?

Strife, Strife, you old war dog…He had been with Soldiers for far too long. He whispered soundlessly and move away from the floor length mirror toward his closet. Taking a good look at his wardrobe the man that was in the boy's body sighed. Not really his first choice of clothing anymore… the last time he wore something like this was before he hit twenty.

And that had been well over thirty some years ago. The blond run his hand over his crew cut. How he miss his hair, he remembered the three years old Sephiroth had been in tears the last time he had cut it back into the crew cut he used to sport in his younger years, that was the last time he had cut his hair. Straighten out the collar of his shirt and zip up his leather pants and slip into the heavy black coat. The old Soldier smirk at the reflection that was grinning darkly back at him.

How did he end up back here? His memories seem to be blank after he got ambushed by the Turks and Hojo sticking him inside the Mako Tank…

But he seem to recall hearing Sephiroth's voice. The boy sound older yet he could still tell it was Sephiroth. The brat he had guard and mentored, and he was so close he felt as if they were one person. Speaking through the same mouth, walk with the same body and perform the deadly dance with the sword he had taught the boy how to do when he's barely three years old…

And he had see Cloud. His baby son grown to a young man with sullen eyes who move as if the whole world had landed on his shoulder. The boy he tease, manipulate, and fought just like he had done with Sephiroth…

He vaguely remembered being thrown into the world of green choking in the intense sense mako then he woke up here. All cold sweats and wide eyes staring into the room he had all but chuck it out of his mind since it was too long ago, where he didn't need to

remember because it was a world he wasn't able to go back to after the Sorceress' curse-

But he was here again. Still eighteen when he had dream his life until he was in his fifties…

"Seifer, are you ready for your exam? Trepe's already calling names." A large burly man called out from the end of the hall. The blond gave a last look to the mirror before he answer.

"Ya, I'm ready." And left for the meeting point.

In the hallway, the mirror image smile like Death before it disappeared if a swirl of green lights.

No, the life he had was not a dream… never a dream…

Gaea was not a dream…

--


	2. Chapter 2

Wake Up Sunshine

AU – Final Fantasy VIII crossover Final Fantasy VII

--

Declaimer: Written for fun. Do not own Final Fantasy.

--

_**The World with Him **_

_The castle was silent. Dead and dreary as a giant catacomb be fit a Gothic King- or in this case, The Queen. _

_The Witch known as Ultimecia gave the green eyed boy who stood before her one of her 'I know something you don't' smirk. Even without tapping into her link with her Knight she knew the expression annoy him to no end. _

"…_Are you totally out of your mind?" The young Knight almost growl, lips pull back snarling like an angry wolf. The witch settle comfortably in her throne and play teasingly at the little black feline-like summon she call out in her more calm and peaceful time during her self-set mission. _

"_Lunar Cry… of all the thing you're trying to do you want to unleash the Lunar Cry!? Don't you know what exactly was sealed in there?" Seifer would have torched anyone who was not Ultimecia for merely mention this ludicrous idea. He would have flame grill the Witch too if he didn't know exactly what that will end him in if he dare to try. _

_It's one thing to be brave, another to be stupidly suicidal. Seifer had been call a fool too many times to count in his eighteen years of life but death by the end of a piss off Witch was not something high in his things to do list. _

_In fact if Ultimecia wasn't who she was and what she was trying to accomplish, he would have kill her the first time he got the chance to. _

"_Of course I know, who do you take me for? I'm the Witch of Dimensions, and 'that' is why I have to release back to the World." The Witch wave her hand at the young knight who was fuming before her. _

_Seifer might be known for his recklessness as he tend to rush into battle first then ask questions later but he was no where close to being dumb. _

"…_Just which World do you intend to let 'it' go to?" Seifer tilt his head back and regard his witch with guarded eyes. _

"…_**The World with Him." **_

--

Wake Up Sunshine 01

--

Breath.

"Hey! Come on Squall! Show me your Gunblade!" The jumpy blond martial artist was literally bouncing in his seat as their group boarded the transporter that will take them to their mission point.

Deep Breath.

"Ah Come on! Show me!" Being ignore by the Biggest Grump of Garden did nothing to damper the hyperactive teen who seen to inhale too much sugar for liking-

Calm...please be calm...

"Don't be such a Grump, Squall! Show and tell! I want to see-" And the blond that had been unusually silent since the beginning of the exam felt something snapped-

Screw this!

--

The vessel fell into a deadly silence as Zell freeze to his spot, not even daring to move fearing the very sharp blade of the infamouse Gunblade that held by the larger blond would slice his throat clean. Frighten blue eyes looked toward the other widen when he notice the look the other teen was giving him-

Like he was nothing but something already dead by the other's weapon.

Zell's mind work frantically to get him out of the situation he put himself into. He didn't know why Seifer would react this way. He had been purposely more annoying than normal when they were back in class just to get a raise out of the larger teen and yet the most the other had done was a few verbal assualts and detentions to clean up the training center and nothing more yet-

"I'm not going to repeat myself so listen carefully Dincht." Seifer gave the other a cold smile, a twitch of lips that didn't show anything other than fake politeness that seem more out of place for the usual arrogant blond teen's behavior.

"If you don't want to lose your vocalcore for rest of your life don't make me introduce you to my blade." Seifergrinned almost in a predatory manner, making the smaller teen gulp but stop himself when he felt the sharp edge press uncomfortably close.

"...Yes..." Zell shakily breath out that he understood perfectly what the other was saying. Seifer's grin widen as he resheathed his weapon and resettled back to his side of the vessel. "Good boy." His leather gloved head pat Zell's head, damperingthe spikes the other make it his trademark hair style the action made Zell press back a wince.

The silence in the confined space was heavy and uncomfortable but Seifer would perfer the silence to the noise that only grit on his over sensitive hearing. But one thing that never really change about him had been his sense of dry humor-

"So Dincht, how do you find your introduction to the Gunblade you seem so eager to see? Is it up to your liking?" Seifer lean back and cross his arm, smirk widen when he noted not only did the smaller blond boy but all the other minus the other Gunbladist winced at his words.

Not much giving a second look to rest of his travel companion Seifer rose from his spot and move out to the deck to get some fresh air. He don't think he could stand anyone's company for a long while-

--

Watching his esteemed rival who was acting way out of character- not that Seifer was an easy person to read in the first place. But for the facade the blond tend to put on when he's around others had slip since the exam had began. Normally the blond would have say something to him mind if answer at all was another thing but Seifer had not said anything to him since in the morning.

Squall look after the retreating back of the blond and blink as the door slid close after him. He wasn't the only one as the other in the room in the same room were doing the exact same thing.

"What in the world's wrong with him!?" Zell rubbed his neck with a grimace.

"Seem like someone woke up in the wrong side of bed." Instructor Trepe shrugged. She was never really too fond of Almasy in the first place but even she knew it was odd behavior for other.

"..." Squall didn't bother to talk the two and gone after the departed blond. It seem something was really bothering his rival-

Even saying Squall Leonhart would care for someone was like Ifrit dating Shiva-

He cares.

--

Dollet was coming into view over the horizon. His long black trench was flapping like darken wings as the Garden vessels cut through the wave and moving closer, even at this distant his enhanced eyesight could make out the explosions al over the city. The battles had already broke out, and now all it take was having the Garden step in to tip the scale and force the rebels to retreat.

...He didn't really care. He had done worse in his time serving Shinra than he ever did with the Sorceress-

"What do you want?" Seifer could make out the muffed steps from the Garden issued boots made among the millions of noises around him. The aura he pick up let him know exactly who was not two meter behind him without looking backward.

"..."

"Silence will get you no answers Leonhart. What do you want?" Seifer sighed. The messy hair teen haven't change much from his screw up memory. At lease the seventeen year old Squall Leonhart was still so very innocent and easy to read it was almost sad to remember Leon, the man who don't trust anyone with his heart anymore.

But Leon was not Squall, and Squall had yet to become Leon.

"...Is there something wrong?" Squall asked softly.

"What's not wrong here?" Seifer look through his shoulder eyes gleaming in the blood red sunset with malicious light. Everything was wrong. He's a fifty-five year old war veteran and he's here- nineteen and back in a world that he had been cursed to never return to. What was he suppose to think? Yeah, everything's pink and peachy- not.

He's Strife Almasy, not Seifer Almasy for longer than the boy before him had been alive.

No, he's not alright. Everything was beyond anything he could imagine. This was no work of man, more like the work of a very powerful Sorceress- one if not more powerful than the Dimensional Witch ...

Or the work of Gaea-

"..." Squall walk up to his rival that seem like a total stranger to him at this moment. He had never felt this way with Seifer. The blond was loud, mean and down right a pain in the arse but never had he been a stranger to Squall. The brunett had forgotten many things since he refuse to un-junction Shiva but he always have a few certainity in his life.

He had Shiva.

He had his gunblade.

He had Seifer.

Now...he felt as if he couldn't grapse his rival even he try to hold on to the blond-

"Tell me something Squall...if you have to pick between what need to be done and the lives of those who you cherish above all else...what will you pick?" Squall blinked at the question that was direction at him.

"...What do you mean?" Seifer chuckled at the buffled look the other gave him.

"It mean if you have to pick between the fate of this world and the life of the one you love. Will you let the world perish or kill your lover to save it?" Squall blinked and regard the other in morbid cuirosity.

"...Whatever." Seifer's frame shook with the force of his laughter.

"No, Squall, it's a very serious question and don't you dare 'Whatever' me." Seifer turn around and regard the shorter boy with a distant look.

"...I...don't know." Squall don't have a lover and he was not certain he like the world enough to save it. Seifer was being weird again.

"...Someone I knew...choose the world and killed his lover." Seifer said in a near whisper. Soft and haunting. The look in Cloud's eyes when he drove his sword into Sephiroth...the blow kill Cloud along with the demi-god.

"Did he regret it?" Squall asked.

Seifer gave the young gunbladist a wistful smile.

"I do not know." Because the blow kill the Seifer that live within Sephiroth as well.

--

"Where is Almasy!?" Zell hollower above the explosions as they ran for their lives away from giant robot spiders that hell bend on killing them.

Three hour fourty minutes down in their mission and already they encounter weird shit monsters, mean soldiers, brainless rebels and four giant robot killing machines just take the cake.

"Don't know!" Selphie yelped as she roll over to another as a giant metallic leg stab right in the spot where she was seconds ago.

"...He's around." Squall answer as he threw a grenade at the joint of the leg that was blocking their exit making the robot wobble as they took the chance to slip through the street and ran-

Only to have a fifth robotic spider drop down on them from above neatly cutting their escape route off from their reach.

"Oh shit." Zell jump back in haste as red optics zoom in their movement, the sudden appearance of what look like machine guns pop out from the body of the robot did not sit well with the three Garden cadets.

"Take cover!" Squall yelled as Selphie give a high pitched scream and flatten herself against the nearest wall, the viberation from the cold stone wall told her that the other robot spiders were closing in.

"Thundaga. Thundaga. Thundaga!" Three huge thunderbolts dance across the robot's body neatly frying the spider as red optics blinked and sizzle as it slump down. The cadets gave a relieved sigh and look up at the roof top where their team captain was looking back toward the way they were running away from.

"Where were you!?" Zell screamed as he wave his fist at the taller blond.

"Run." Seifer frowned as he notice more robots had join in the chase making six more that was rounding in on them.

"What about you?" Selphie asked worried as Zellalready took off running in a heartbeat. Squall too stood his ground and glare up at the older boy. He did not like the thought of leaving the blond behind to deal with these killing machines by himself.

"I'll be right behind you. Just get back to the vessel. This mission was nothing but a joke in the first place." Seifer snorted as he readjust his gloves as he ready another round of spells.

"Okay!" Selphie waved as she dash after Zell. Squall frowned. He got a really bad feeling about this...

"Squall. Go." The brunett narrow his eyes, the blond might be call a lot of names but a liar had not been one of them.

"Remember your words." Squall turn and ran after the two other cadets. Seifer grinned at the mistrust the younger boy held toward him. Young and inexperience the seventeen year old Squall Leonhart might be, he's still sharp as ever at picking up lies the others told.

The ex-soldier straighten and extend both of his hands- holding off potent fire spells at bay just waiting for the right moment to unleash-

The last vessel was waiting as the others already pull back away from Dollet. Trepe gesture her students to rush back to the ship, she could make out easily it was Zell who took the lead. Selphie was not far behind and she could make out the barest hint of Squall coming right up-

"AHHHH--there's giant killing robots!!" Zell's yell make Trepe frowned as she quickly move up the machine gunthat was ready to be use.

The young Instructor yell for them to get in as she jump down and grab Squall who was standing just by the hatch and refust to budge.

"Squall! Come on! We need to leave now!" Quistis tried to drag the other by the arm but the brunett merely shrugged her hold off.

"..."

"Squall? What's wrong with you? We need to leave now!"

"Seifer's not here yet." The petit girl piped in, startling the blond instructor.

"What?" Quistis turn sharply toward the direction the brunett was looking at.

"Seifer's right behind us slowing those spiders down with magic. He should be here-" Quistis frowned as she notice the frantic look one of her assistant gave her as the last warning the Dollet Government send out - ordering them to leave their ground.

"We can't wait for him. Get in and move out!" She yell out her order but Squall turn his glare to the young woman.

"No." He spoke in a flat tone. He's not leaving without the blond.

"Squall Leonhart. This is an order. GET IN." Quistis hissed as she held that glare with her own. Crushing on the brunett or not, she was still his superior until he made SEED.

Squall pressed his lips into a thin line as he move into the vessel. Quistis bark out orders to get them off Dollet, the hatch closing as they move back into the water and yet there was no sign of the blond gunbladist...

"...Don't worry, Squall...see-" Selphie step beside the brunett who was on the back deck looking over Dollet as it get smaller and farther away over the horizon.

"It's firework. Seifer'sfire." Flames that look nothing like the natural burning fire dance over the city. Not many people could pull off a fire spell in that size but both of them know for Seifer who could threw three high level thunder spells in a single go, it was very likely his doing as well.

"..." Squall did not say anything but his nails had already dug through his leather gloves and into his palms.

"I know. I don't like to leave Seifer behind...but Seifie can take care of himself." Selphie tried to smile but it was force as she was not so certain of her own words.

"Seifer had always been the strongest among us."

"...What good will that do when he have no back up." Squall spat out as he turn and head back toward the waiting leaving the petit girl who had eyes almost the exact same green as the blond they were both worrying about remain by herself...

What chance do one man has when he's left by himself in a city full of hostile forces who will shot him on sight?

--

The middle age Headmaster pinched the bridge of his nose after he dismiss the two Instructors who were over looking the last SEED exam that was held in Dollet. It went pretty well considering half of the Cadets taking the exam the classes that were two years younger than the previous exam participants, the number of Cadets that were proven capable were in good numbers. Over all, it's a good year, Cid reflect dryly.

Only one name on the list of three missing Cadets made him winced- not from headaches or any physical pain but what he know will get him in trouble with his missing wife when Edea come back-

Seifer Almasy had not return from Dollet. As the Dolletgovernments were in civil war among themselves, the country had sealed off all its trades and communication for the time being making it impossible to send in search parties to look for the missing Cadets.

"...You never make it easy for anyone...what were you trying to do... Seifer..." Cid sighed as he slump back into his leather chair behind his desk. There's no point to get work up over the issue now, he still have to put together the list of newly promoted SEED from the Instructors reviews.

Things...had gotten out of hand now but he had no power to do anything other than to wait for the blond Gunbladist to come back himself.

The boy might as well be his son but Seifer always make things difficult for him.

--

--


	3. Chapter 3updated

Wake up sunshine 02

Declaimer: Do not own Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy VIII. Merely written for fun.

--

_The world had ended. His 'world' had ended when delivered the final blow that fateful day. The day where he killed the only one, the only one person in this world that he could claim he loved, he loves above all else._

_The only man that hold not only his love but also his soul._

_His master, his lover, his other half._

_Sephiroth._

_The Man closest to God._

_His life was taken away from him not by anyone else but by his own hands._

_His own sword was the thing that killed the other half of his soul._

_He could never forgive himself. Never. In doing so, he will never forget the man that refuse to become a mere memory._

_Foolish Sephiroth._

_You will never be just a memory, never, not for who you are to me._

_I am Cloud Strife._

_The Tool of Planet. The Puppet which refused to be put to rest. I am cursed to walk this Earth over and over again when ever the Planet needs me to defend it from outside threats..._

_I'm cursed to kill my only love over and over again until Jenova decides to let him go...until Gaea decided to let It's Weapon go. _

_There's no Redemption_

_There's no Escape_

_There's no Sephiroth then-_

_There's no Cloud Strife_

_Promised Land...it's very far away from the Damned Ones_

--

Wake Up Sunshine 02

--

The Garden was bustling with music, lights and noises as their latest SeeD Ceremony party move along the way and everyone enjoy themselves for a night out of dancing, food and drinks. The Rules that had been enforced upon the Cadets and SeeDs alike were straight and the DC do not slack off when it comes to patrolling and applying those rules.

With the rare occassion such as the SeeD Ball, it wasn't a suprise almost all Garden residents shown up.

Squall hung around in the corner, not caring for the looks he got from others nor mangling himself into the sea of dancing people.

After coldly told off Zell and Selphie, he hung around just because anyone who came in through the front gate of the Garden will been seen from his position along the balcony.

"Squall? Can I have a minute of your time?" Quistis was dress in her official SeeD uniform, the only differences was she had put on make up as she regularly wouldn't.

"What do you want?" Squall was not moving even at the uncomfortable look his former instructor shown as she glance around as people milling around.

"Can we please talk in a more private area?" Quistis gave the young man one of her better watery smile. But Squall didn't even seem to notice.

"No." Squall answer in his monotone. Quistis sighed aware that she had yet again unable to reach her former student and current crush. Watching the quiet man silent slip pass everyone else who's enjoying the party the blond painfully notice how out of place Squall seem among rest of his peers.

While other laughed and almost explod with joy, he's dark and gloomy like a lifeless shadow that was now creeping back into his darkness...

Quistis shook her head. Where did that thought came from? It's absurd-

She paused as she notice freezing glaze in those storm blue eyes as the young man glaze around him...

Like he was seeing nothing but unworthy creatures.

Quistis' breath choked.

--

_"Welcome, my SeeDs. Here's your first mission." _

_"..." _

_"Help the Timber Owls in their resistance against Deling." _

_"Mission accepted." _

--

"Squall!? What are you doing!?" Quistis yelled from where she was frozen on the cold floor from the psychic attack of the Sorceress that literally appeared out of no where. She could only watched in horror that her priced student was seemingly transfix at the masked female that was promising him things that was too good to be true.

"Squall!?" Zell was panicking. Squall was moving toward the Sorceress, his gunblade was lax in his hand, too lax for him to be walking near an enemy.

"Firaga." A tornado of flame rage across the room and hit the Sorceress head on. A tall figure delivered a hard punch on the brunette's stomach knocking the boy out on the spot. Seifer sighed at the limp figure in his arm then at the enraged Sorceress who had pull up her defence in the last second with a wall of ice.

--

Edea always loves Ice spells, the reason why she had Shiva for the longest time before she give it to Squall the day she was completely taken over by Ultimecia.

"You!? How dare you interferes!?" The Sorceress hissed like a piss off viper when she finally taken a good look who had thrown the fire spell at her. Seifer merely arch an eyebrow at her anger, like he had done anything else in his life that made anyone who wouldn't get angry at him.

"Yeah, me, don't you miss me...my dear, dear...Edea..." Seifer answer with a sing song voice. Even he nearly slipped in calling the Sorceress- Ultimecia. Zell scramble to catch the unconscious brunette when the taller blond threw the other at him. Seifer pull himself to his full high which Zell will never admit it even to the end of his days that, Seifer always scare him especially when he's all serious and menacing like a deadly predator going head on with a venomous viper.

"...Foolish...foolish Knight...I will remember this... "The Sorceress hissed with venom as she slowly back through the portal she created and disappeared in a swirl of pink lights. To go against a full fledge Mage that could use master level magik was not something she would do with no back up...for now she will let them be but when they meet again she will make sure that bothersome White Knight won't be in the picture any longer.

Watching the Sorceress disappeared with an expressionless face, Seifer hard press to stop the relief sigh that escape his lips. He really didn't look forward to fight Edea, not for who she was more than in the state he was in now, he don't think he could win the battle without some heavy consequences. The firga spell threw the Sorceress off into thinking he had mastered his magik but in truth, he barely have any spell more than level seven. His fire spell had always been the strongest even if he input the same amount of energy into any other type of spell due to his natural affiliation with the element his fire spell will literally explode anything they came in contact with if he pour enough magik to back up the spell.

The blond turn and look at the rag-tag group of green mercenary and nearly groan at how disorganize they were. He glared back at the young woman who was throwing daggers at him since he knocked the puberty boy out.

"You know her." It was not a question but a statement. Quistis nearly yelled at the top of her lung. "You knew the Sorceress!" The former instructor was confused and the feeling of helplessness did not do her well. In the state her mind was now she could only take out her frustration on the only one who seems to know what was going on.

Had the world gone mad now? Or was she having a very bad dream?

You know who she is as well as I. Seifer wanted to say but he couldn't, not when he disrupted the things that should have been more than he should have already.

"Seifer? Is that you?" Rinoa finally speak up from where she was hiding behind the group during the confrontation. The blond strike her with uncannily familiarity when he first appear rushing pass her to stop Squall from following that weird woman but as she keep on watching him...Seifer? Was he the same boy she had been with a few years back, in the darken streets of Galbaldia when she had first run away from her family?

"Hello to you too Rinoa, but this really isn't the time for chit-chat. The army is coming and I don't like to be thrown into jail and then be executed for not only attacking Deling but also attacking the Sorceress." Seifer ignore the gawking faces around him, he bend down and roughly push the chicken wuss aside and threw the unconscious Squall over his shoulder like a sag of potato and head toward the back entrance and away from the soldiers that was moving toward them. He paused by the door and glance back at the group that was merely gaping at him but still stuck to their spot. "You guys coming or you would prefer to get caught?"

Like fire spell that had been light at their behind, the group chase after the blond who had a limp form drape over his shoulder and disappeared into the crowd of chaos that Timber had become.

The board is set and the game begin...only this time the White Knight was settle with no rule...

--

--

_He was dreaming... flowing in and out as faces he felt he should know but couldn't place a name on blurring in the corner of his eyes... _

"Wake up...my dear Knight..." The voice of a stranger...even in the depth of his mind claimed that he knew her.

"Wake up...my dear Knight..." He stirred but refuse to wake.

"Wake up...my Squall..."

--

"_There's no one the Turks couldn't 'wipe out'." The man once told him with expressionless face and cold eyes. The blond threw his head back and laughed slapping his hand on the man's shoulder and pull the stiff sorry bastard into the warm musky smell bar that they pass by. _

"_Calm down Vincent. I'll buy you a drink." _

_And that too was all in the wash up past that shouldn't be... _

--

Seifer open his eyes and glance around the compartment they had claimed for the night as the train take them to the nearest Garden. A plan of action he had sworn up and down being a very bad idea but Quistis, her stiff by the book or you failed attitude was really getting to him. The blond rose from his spot by the door, a place he claimed, and a thought out action he always uses. The entrance truly was the only place in this compartment that will grant him a fighting chance if they were under attack...

But from the vibes he got from the still sleeping group, it look like Ellone had caught up with them...but the Dream Sorceress' power couldn't detect him... not when he's not where he suppose to be and who he suppose to be.

On the other end of the compartment Rinoa woke up groggily and slowly crawl over the sleeping Selphie to reach for the blond she knew. ..

"Seifer? How are you? Why didn't you return any of my calls?" The dark hair girl pouted and only got a side way glance from the blond man that didn't seem so arrogant as he was years ago but somehow darker...more calm...yet it only make him more dangerous to Rinoa who was always attracted to dangerous man.

"Away, tell me Rinoa, are you still the stuck up spoil princess that demand the world revolve around your little fingers like a well trained dog?" Seifer sneered. He really was in no mood to deal with a current Sorceress wannabe- and he had any say in it, Rinoa wouldn't be getting Sorceress power any time soon. He pet absent mindly on Angelo who sat obediently by his heel and expose its throat for more petting. Angelo trust Seifer with blinding loyalty, for it, Seifer was the first image it saw when it open it's eyes so therefore the tall man was Angelo's 'mother'. He had let Angelo stay with Rinoa when they part ways couple years ago as a good willed gesture although he had never intended to train Angelo as a combat canine.

"Mooh, you're always so mean, Seifer. I did grow up." The girl pouted but stopped herself from getting too close from the look she's getting from the blond.

"Rinoa...I really don't want to kill you so please, stay out of my way from now on." Seifer said in a flat tone, a type of voice that didn't held any emotion yet anyone could tell he's dead serious about his threat.

Rinoa back off. She might not be with Seifer for that long but she knew enough that right now the blond's patience was at its end and he was as calm as a volcano that was about to erupt with barest hint of provocation.

She did not know what's had happen to the other when they part ways before but right now, her curiosity was peak as ever.

If she got her way, her old flame will not just be her old flame when the ordeal's over.

--

Irvine shook the sleep out of his head. He's having weird dreams again...well not so much as dreams than memories of the things that had long pass.

Only tonight he really thought he had return to the orphanage and hanging out with a bossy blond boy who have a quiet brunette trailing after him every where he went...

He hadn't dreamt of his childhood friends for a long time now especially when he had a few practise sessions with Guardian Forces... but this dream...

"_Hye, Irvy, will you stop being such a slowpoke and get a move on! We won't wait for you forever! Come on! We need to get going!" The dream Seifer had gesture him to come with Squally beside him twisting his hand in the blond's orange shirt and holding the stuff toy Ellie give him in another. _

"_Wait up! Where are we going?" He heard his child self asked when he reached the two. _

"_To defeat our enemies!" The blond hair boy said with a huge grin taking a hold of Squally's hand in one and his in another the two could only run along with the older boy before they were force to trip on their own feet. _

"_We'll be Knights and protect Matron together! No one hurt our families!" He heard Seifer exclaimed in a loud voice and he couldn't help but felt the warmth that despite being unwanted by rest of the world, there's someone that still consider them to be family. He caught the eyes of the smaller brunette and there's something he couldn't describe in those smoky blue eyes when Squally watch Seifer laughing as he pull them into a run through the meadow. _

_Not knowing what else to do, Irvine laughed along with the blond and with a smiling brunette beside them... _

His dream ended with him shot up from his cot in cold sweat. That's something else in his dream, like an ominous foreboding that made him feel like a little kid again fearing what's hiding underneath his bed. He shook his head and flopped back into his flat pillow and let his eyes close into a rest.

He'll deal with it when it comes...for now, just let him have a good rest then maybe...maybe when he's head's cleared he'll know why in the world do he have this dream memory of someone he had not think about for couple of years now...

An absent minded thought drift through but sleep had claim him before he could grasp it and by tomorrow morning he would not have remember it again.

--

...The look in Squally's eyes was very similar of the look of totally infatuation...

--

_"God damn you! Hojo! He's just a kid!" The wutaian man spare the raging soldier a glance through the corner of his glasses. He could not stand unwanted noises in his work area while he's doing one of his experiments. _

_"Seifer, if you continue on I'm going to toss you out of my lab." The slender smaller man said in a blank monotone. The taller blond's glowing mako eyes stared almost sadly at the man he could no longer recognize. _

_"...What happen to you? He's your son isn't he? Why are you doing this to him?" _

_"He was born for the solo purpose of bringing back Jenova." Seifer could not believe what he's hearing right now. _

_Jenova _

_The piece of mummified alien that Shinra dug out of the North Crater was the reason why Hojo ruin all of their lives for? First Lucrecia, then Vincent... _

_"...Will I be next?" The question that slip out of Seifer's lips finally make Hojo look up from where he was tapping away on the computer and meet the other man face to face first time since the blond step into the room. _

_"**You're already an experiment**."_

--


	4. Chapter 4unfinised

Wake up Sunshine 03

--

"...You seem to know awful 'lot of people, Seifer." Quistis came up to the blond man who was looking out of the balcony of the meeting. Debriefing with Headmaster Martin was over and they were only cleaning up the last minute paperwork and waiting for the return call from Balamb Garden.

It had been a surprise for her when they got out of the wood track and arrived in Galbaldia Garden, she was first to talk to the Guards to let them know who they were and hopefully the other Garden would at least let them stay the night before they head back to Balamb. She wasn't prepare when the two Guards that was blocking the entrance to salute to the blond man that was trailing behind the group.

And from the look of it, she wasn't the only one. Seifer merely nodded and wave his hand and tell the Guards to let them through and told them to let Martin know he'll be waiting in the master debrief. The way the two scramble to follow his order, it was almost like he held more authority over the Galbaldia Garden than the Headmaster himself.

"With the right connection, it's very easy to know people." Seifer didn't look at her, he knew what she was hinting but he wasn't in the mood to deal with this. Martin's attitude just not half an hour ago had made things more complicated. The older man was giving him uncertain glances every time the blond instructor gave a critical piece of what happen in Timber. How was he going to cover the fact that he is the second in command of the whole Galbaldia country now? Laguna better get his act together soon or else this 'Sorceress War' will be out of control to a point he couldn't do anything to change the outcome...

"...Who are you?" Quistis asked as she cross her arms over her chest. She had thought she knew her students but it seem she never really knew him.

"I am Seifer Almasy. Nothing more, nothing less." Seifer answered in flat tone. He is who he is, he is Seifer Almasy. The student of Balamb Garden. He is Seifer Almasy, the Second in Command of the Galbaldia Government. He is Seifer Almasy, Soldier First Class Soldier of Shinra. He is Seifer Almasy, the Knight that should have long dead instead of thrown back into a world he could no longer relate to...

Quistis was interrupted by the incoming call from Balamb the whole room fell silent after they heard their newest mission.

"Are they nuts?" Zell asked drily as he nervously pulled on his fighting gloves. Selphie was silent and Quistis had taken her glasses off and rub the bridge of her nose. Squall who had yet to say anything since they got off the train was staring at Seifer. And the say blond himself merely close his eyes and sighed.

To assassinate the Sorceress...what kind of chance would they have to complete such impossible mission?

Looked like there's no escaping this...

"Headmaster Martin, could you lend us a sniper." Seifer open his eyes and turn toward the older looking man. Martin nodded, he wasn't about to disobey the blond's order. He had seen first hand what kind of destruction the other could do...just say that those that had been at the last Parliament General Meeting had the first taste of strength from the Envoy of Esthar.

"Stay for the night, I insist, rest up and restore your strength, I'll get everything ready for your departure tomorrow morning." Seifer gave the man a thank you nod. A rest sound like a dream right now, when was the last time he had a decent night of sleep? Too long he believes...

--

The room was draped with heavy silence since the brunette had step in, Seifer's brows furrowed into a tight knot and he rub his face with gloveless hand.

"Look, Squally, I'm tired, pissed off and I am not in the mood to have a starring contest with you." Seifer spoke as if toward a five year old child. To him, right now at this particular point of time, Squall Leonhart, the Squall Leonhart who was staring at him with sullen eyes was nothing but a child. "How 'bout you walk out of my room and back to yours so we could get a decent rest before we need to go in four hours?"

"...What more have you being keeping to yourself?" Squall finally spoke when the blond was about to physically removing him from his room.

"..." Seifer's eyes narrowed, making his already narrowed eyes into mere slits. Squall didn't ignore the fact that in the dim light, those green eyes had an eerie shone to them. It was one of the many changes Seifer bear after he disappeared before the SeeD exam and appear out of no where to help them at Timber. What more could he be hiding? What else was going to pop up and show him just how much he didn't know about the only one in his life that had always been there?

"I have no idea what you mean? Keeping what?" Squall tightened his hand into a fist making the leather protest at his harsh treatments.

"Don't lie. I know you enough to know you're hiding something." The younger boy growled angrily at how the blond was side stepping his questions. Seifer throw his head back and let out a harsh barked laugh.

"Squally, Squally-boy, you really have no idea what's going on... everything in this whole damn world is a lie...get use to it, for the whole lot of us have no where to go other than being in the center of this deception..." Seifer half drag half carried the brunette until he's out of the door. "Good night, Leonhart, may the 'Lion' be with you." May Griever find you and keep you...May the Dark Lion choose to help you instead of 'her'... OH...how much more could have gone wrong now?

Squall blinked in confusion at the door that had close shut at his face...the parting smirk the blond gave him up settling him more than his words...

What in the world is going on now? He felt as if he had never really known his rival at all the years they were together...

Or have he ever know the real Seifer Almasy at all? Squall frown as he stomp back toward the room that was assign to him. Those dreams he had...why did it unsettle him like this?

...He did not dream the Seifer before him was not the same one that he grew up with-

--

_"...Do I have parents?" The pale hair teen asked for the first time in years as he laid on the cold rocky ground miles away from the soldiers' camp as the last and strongest troop deploy from Shinra in it's war against wutai._

_The only man who could answer him was silent not because he did not know the answer but he could not and would not tell the teen who could have been his son all the pain he had suffer through till now was by the hand of the man that had sire him._

_Nor could he tell the boy his own mother had abandon him to this fate without even looking back when she step through the door of the manor in that back water town two days after he was born._

_Sephiroth closed his eyes as he felt the older blond sat next to him, leather gloved hand running through his pale silvery hair in a calming manner, like every time he was resting after Hojo was done with him._

_Seifer would not tell him._

--

"Did you know what was going to happen before all this?" Quistis asked the only one in the whole group that was unaffected by the Sorceress' attack. The teen- no, the man merely arched an eyebrow and slung the brunette's frame over his shoulder. Not caring that all the other was wounded either slightly or seriously. The worst out of them was Rinoa, who had been hit by icicles through her shoulder and stomach.

Thinking back Quistis could see all the things Seifer told her to do could have prevented the failed mission but how she was to know? She's the Instructor, the only experienced SeeD out of the group and Seifer didn't even pass the Exam! He's just a Cadet! Why would she listen to him at all!? But she suppressed the tiny hint of regret into the back of her mind.

No, right now it's more important to find out what else is Seifer hiding from them.

"Trepe, I told you to listen to me but did you?" Seifer sneered, he look pass the woman and nodded at Irvine who had rush from his hiding spot to join them. "We're getting out of here I'm not fighting anyone with Leonhart down for the count and with a bunch of brats on the field."

"What about Rinoa?" Quistis asked.

"What _about_ Rinoa?" Seifer said in a tight voice. He really didn't need this right now.

"She need medical attention-" Seifer snapped, teeth bared like a piss off tiger that's about to pounce-

"I do not care about the ones who had foolishly endanger other around them- I told her to leave, go back to her father where she will be the pampered princess she had been acting like. Instead she forced her way to go with us when we're risking our lives to complete this damnable mission for the sake of what? This is no fairy tale, the moment she thought she could play us like fools...she should think before she did what she did. If she doesn't make it, too bad so sad, I'm not wasting any energy and resources on non combatant that shouldn't even be here in the first place." Seifer sneered.

"We're mercenary, live weapons the Garden mode us to be. If you want to play house with Rinoa go ahead, just spare me the energy of running Hyperion through both of you." Cruel cutting words made Quistis' face loose what ever color there was. Seifer's serious, he wasn't buffing. Not with such look in his eyes.

"Do I make myself clear?" Quistis could only stare wide eyed at the man that made her felt like her first years as a Garden Cadet.

"Ye...yes..." What had happen to Seifer? This was not the Seifer Almasy she had in her class! Quistis watch the other lead their group waving in and out of the maze like alleyway-

How in the world did they come to this?

--


End file.
